Among the other benefits for which cats have domesticated humans, one is the procurement of fusses. Here is a video, sent by reader Diana MacPherson, showing the variety of ways that cats demand petting. As she said, “My favourite is the last one because the kitteh is so polite.” And so it is!
How cats have trained us to pet them
October 5, 2014 • 2:58 pm
Aww! The first one really cracked me up.
Me too!
Their plaintive little looks are adorable!
🐯
Of course, d*gs do plenty of the same. But cats are much cuter about it, there is no denying.
Sorry, but my d*g has more “moves” than all of those cats combined.
Mine, too.
Not all cats, unfortunately.
I fondly remember one cat, who demonstrably liked me, sat near me, sometimes slept with me, but almost never allowed anyone to pet him.
By contrast, nearly all dogs enjoy petting and having their tails scratched. There once was a pig in the family and he only seemed to like having his ears fondled. Rats and guinea pigs may like having their faces stroked, but it’s not at all clear that they like the rest of the repertoire.
My sister-in-law has a rather large middle-aged tortoise, and it’s far from obvious how to demonstrate affection to him. My brother thinks he enjoys gentle thumps on his shell.
Pigs like being scratched behind the ears – some will emit breathy squeal-grunts of delight and then collapse slowly, almost as if they were pig-shaped balloons and you had deflated them by mistake.
I once knew a gorgeous, petite cat named Sapphire. Her delicate features looked like a finely crafted porcelain objet d’art, pure black with sapphire blue eyes. Her nickname was Killer Screaming Psycho Death Cat From Hell.
Her SOP was to approach you like a classic Hollywood movie seductress, melting your heart and engendering an irresistable urge to pet the beautiful, sweet kitty. And then the INSTANT you first contact her furr as you are reaching to caress this perfect pussycat, faster than you can blink you have 2 to 4 sets of claws, and 1 set of teeth firmly attached to your forearm.
We used to get a kick out of watching people meet her for the first time. The woman who later became my wife was a particularly funny case. She was / is known as a “cat whisperer.” She had known many cats all her life, raised many litters from birth when the mothers had died or abandoned them. Tough battle scarred tom cats would come running like kittens when they heard her voice. She was shocked and offended, with Sapphire not me(!), and never was able to charm Sapphire.
Sapphire seemed to grow rather fond of me. Whenever I sat down to read at night on the couch, she would come up, rub all over me, purring, kneading (ouch!), and then curl up in my lap and stay there as long as I did. But I would not pet her. Sometimes I would experiment and just touch her as she was doing her lap routine. It got to where she would not instantly attack, but she would instantly stop and give me the “stink eye.”
Baihu makes this particular face at me just before he tries to shove his head in my sinuses, and a similar but distinct one before he tries to fracture my forehead with his own…
b&
I wonder how many people have gotten broken noses by being head-butted by their kittehs?
We have two cats.
One makes an appearance only when food is being served. She never asks let alone begs for it, but if you pet her she laps it up.
The other one is always close by. She loves being pet when that is her choice but walks off if you initiate the petting.
I think it is trying to stop the terrible music!